Clean Hands Summary

Three years after her mother's death, Han Qing-jao is herself spoken to by the gods. She does not recognize at first that the gods are speaking to her but she does become aware that her hands are dirty and she is almost never able to get them clean enough to satisfy the gods. She spends so much time washing her hands that they become raw and bleed. Without a mother watching over her, her hands go unnoticed for some time until a servant notices and brings the matter to her father's attention. Everyone on Path recognizes this to be a good sign, that the gods have begun speaking to her.

In order to verify her claim, Han Qing-jao is taken to "the temple at Rockfall." She climbs into her father's sedan chair with him, feeling badly about how the bearers will...